http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/11/3044325/a-case-can-be-made-to-defend-miami.html "Remember when Dolphins fans were chanting Kyle Orton’s name? Ireland could have bowed, been popular and signed the then-available free agent. And remember when later so many fans clamored to sign Matt Flynn? Well, Flynn went to Seattle and couldn’t beat out rookie Russell Wilson. Orton is a backup in Dallas. And Tannehill looks more and more like the right choice for Miami’s future in what was the biggest decision of Ireland’s four years as GM — the last two-plus with final say over personnel. Coach Joe Philbin — a gamble in that he had never been a head coach — also looks increasingly like a solid hire. That’s Ireland, too. Free agent running back Reggie Bush, in his second season, unquestionably has been a smart signing. That’s Ireland. Linebacker Karlos Dansby and guard Richie Incognito have been productive additions. Ireland. Sacks leader Cameron Wake? The GM had a hand in mining him out of Canada." " The other is what Ireland does after this season with all of those stacks of chips on his table. Because of trades Miami now has the most 2013 draft choices of any team, including five of the first 100 picks. And because of the salary-cap situation Miami figures to have around $60 million to spend in free agency." There's a lotta more.
These last 2 years is what made me nuetral on Ireland which is arguably the only 2 years he is soley responsible for. I am getting more and more positive on Ireland but I will reserve the move away from "Nuetral" til after the next off season!
Last off season was atrocious, save Pouncey & Bush & Burnett. This past off season is shaping up (not 100% sure yet) to be one of the better ones in Dolphins history...once you factor in picking up Philbin and his staff. I truly believe Ireland needs a blueprint to follow.
2011 draft was pretty bad. Only Pouncy was a hit, granted a big hit, but still he remains the only one. Daniel Thomas is disappointing. Clyde Gates dons the Jets green now. Charles Clay is regressing. Jimmy Wilson, maybe. I think Ireland gets a lot of hate based on maybe undeserved reputation and carry-over from the Parcells debacle. I don't think he is as bad a GM as his reputation dictates. That being said, i don't fully trust him. I have a hope that the influence of the current coaching staff has a positive effect on him and makes him a better GM.
Re-sign Long, Smith, Hartline and Starks. Franchise Bush. Add some quality WR's/TEs thru the draft, take a shot at Wallace or Bowe. Show them some Hartline tape and let them imagine what'd it'd be like to see as much 1 on 1 coverage as he does. Add BPAs at CB, DE, RB. Boom. Division Champs.
I think its pretty clear what his plan is. He wants to have strong lines. He wants to rely mainly on the draft. Beyond that, its just finding players that fit the scheme the coaches are running.
Cote has expressed a lot of what I have felt about Ireland all through the "FireIrelandStorm" pomposity which plagued the boards and fandom for a while. Right now, with the Ghost of Football Past exorcised from the premises, Ireland's picks have been very different from those of the previous regime when it was intact and in charge as a troika. There has also been a decided increase in the level talent on the field. Is it perfect yet - not by the hair of my chinney, chin, chin - and there is a whole of hair there! But... this team is playing better than we have seen in a number of seasons. In fact, I think it is better than we have seen since the departure of Wannabeacoachstedt. Some, such as one of the posters above, will see this article as an insult to their impatient presuppostions about Ireland as part of the past administration. But, that is to be expected. There are always those who expect a Stalin like purge of everyone who is tainted by the failure of the past in any organization, notably sports organizations. Chief Executive Officers and Owners who know their business are not so easily persuaded that a clean slate is necessary - and in this case it may well turn out to be very beneficial for this team that Ross was not so persuaded. Ireland has been learning on the job, which can lead to some rather embarrassing moments. However, would we rather have a perfectly suave and debonair office front man who knew how to speak with poise and erudition about any subject who knew very little about talent evaulation and relied on reports from Kyper and the others... or someone who looked at tape, visited the players himself, and had a background composed of equal parts of finding good talent (even under some rocks) and sticking his foot in his mouth on some occasions. Personally, I wouldn't have minded if Ireland had called the man who accosted him in the stadium the unexpurgated name for rectum to his face as long as he keeps drafting Pounceys, Tannehills, Hartlines, and signing FA's like Dansby, Wake, Bush, and Bess. We are poised on the brink of something exciting coming out of the Formerly known as Joe Robbie Stadium - and I mean this as not just exciting as "are they gonna do something good - Aw....(insert proper four letter negative expletive) - but as in the near future, I expect the games between the Jests, Jills, and Cheatriots at the end of the season to have a lot more import than just a determiner of draft position - which is something about which we will soon not be nearly as worried as in the past decade or so.
Ireland definitely has had his fair share of gaffes but to me he has done about an average job with the needle starting to move towards above average. He definitely has made some great trades (Bush, Fasano, Ferguson), some great signings (Starks, Wake, Burnett) and some great picks (Pouncey, Hartline, Jones). However there are plenty of mistakes that even out a lot of these moves such as signing Wilford and Nanaee, the Pat White and Patrick Turner picks. His entire off season free acquisitions were terrible aside from Marshall although he hasn't been all that great. I think Ireland sticks this off season but what he does this off season will be a very good barometer going forward of what we can expect.
Eh, that article kind of sucks. 1). Annoying factual errors in this article, looks bad for Cote (e.g. Orton was not a F.A.). 2). Dansby, while productive is over paid and overrated. 3). Cameron Wake was a Canadian stud. Plenty of teams saw the talent, we ponied up the best deal. Kudos for that, but let's not pretend the find was supernatural. 4). Gives him credit for passing on Dez Bryant but don't point out his Brandon Marshall failure? 5). Brag about having 5 picks int he top 100, fail to cite that the reason is because we traded players for less value than what we got them for. 6). Lastly, and maybe most important, Cote doesn't mention Ireland's history of passing on playmakers (e.g. Misi > Gronk) for the safer position pick. Not impressed with the article at all. Ireland hasn't done enough to make this team contend seriously and hasn't done enough to get axed. He's middle of the road (like Greg says, in all fairness) and he's not going anywhere. Move along people, nothing to see here.
Ireland has certainly made good moves. There have also been definite head scratchers, areas of missed opportunities, and inaction where action might have been a better choice. The question is do his good moves outweigh his bad moves? This is pretty subjective, IMO, but if the answer is no then we should be looking for a GM next season.
The plan that came together with regards to Philbin-Sherman-Tannehill, installing his college offense/Head Coach in the Pros is unprecedented and it's looking better and better every week.
At least 75% of the people who think Jeff Ireland has done a bad job have not the slightest idea of what realistic player acquisition successes and failures look like. A fairly big portion of that 75% is also pretty actively ignorant and hostile towards the idea that they need research or critical thinking to have an informed opinion.
Well, 100% of the people see a sub par product on the field. It does not take a genius, critical thinker, or researcher to see and recognize crap when you see it. Like I said above, part of Irelands negative rep is a carry-over from the Parcells debacle. However, he has also not impress or inspired confidence by his own as of yet. IMO he is an average GM. I'll see where that takes me going forward.
Apparently, it really truly does. A GM cannot be measured by wins and losses. That's ridiculous. A lot of what we're seeing now with Philbin taking over should pretty clearly demonstrate how ridiculous it is. Assign whatever you want to Parcells but it really was not awful by any means.
I said this in the other Ireland thread and I'll say it here too. The idea (hinted at the end of the piece) that fans love bashing Ireland and would like to see the team fail so they can continue to bash him is hogwash. I don't care how "wrong" it proves me I'd love to see every single one of Ireland's picks pan out perfectly and for Miami to win the superbowl this year. That being said, while I'll admit Ireland does deserve some defense on some of his moves, even some I've criticized him for in the past and more recently, I still don't think he's the guy we want to trust with the upcoming draft and free agency.
Well ultimately you play to win. Irelands ultimate job is to win. People will judge you by whether you can field a winning team, or not. You can site millions of variables that come into play, but at the end of the day, you either win or lose, and thats how you are judged.
That's oversimplifying it to the point of inanity. This isn't learning astrophysics. It is reasonable to expect you to go through the effort to have an informed opinion.
Ok, one annoying factual error...yes, Orton would have been a trade, not a fa. Dansby got the going rate to sign him. Has he lived up to the highest (or close to highest) paid ILB, probably not, but he is certainly not a bust by any stretch. You refer to him as over-rated, but most everyone else still have him in the upper echelon of ILBs. I still have to give him a passing grade on that move... Wake was a stud in Canada and that meant nothing when he came over to the NFL. Plenty of productive CFLers have not produced in the NFL. He didn't come over and light the world afire in the NFL, it took some working with him to get him where he is now. The fact is Irish got him...for that he deserves the credit. Every Gm has misses and Irish has his share of them as well. I think we all felt that as long as Sparano could keep Marshall's head in the game of football, he'd be a stud for us. From a production view, he was ok, but his consistent off field, on field and in the locker room distractions were too much. That was not Irish's doings. I was just as glad we got rid of him and got something back as I was when we got him. I don't fault the coaches or GM for failure on Marshall...that was all on Marshall...Chitown will see sooner or later as well... Traded players for less value than when we got them... Marshall was 3 yrs older, his value was down due to a combination of his on field, off field and locker room issues here in Miami (not the fault of Irish) and we got 2 third rounders for him versus the 2nd rounders we paid...I think that's a pretty fair assessment of his value at the time. As to the Davis trade, for a guy that didn't fit into the new regime's plans, and that he couldn't seem to become a pro even tho there was/is still some raw talent there he got good value...guess we won't be seeing that 6th rounder move to a 5th will we. Cutting your losses is just as important in this league as making picks right in the first place. You can argue every single move Irish made and find just as many reasons to agree with his moves as to disagree. I think you opinion is pretty unfair on this particular issue... As to passing on playmakers, do you really think Gronk would be as productive in a Miami uniform as in a NE uni ?? I don't. Sure, he's passed on few guys, but so have 31 other GMs as well... Do we need more playmakers...yeah sure, but who'd be our OLB if Misi weren't here ? Jason Trusnik ?? When Misi was drafted, LB was just as big a need as TE was... Every team can look at every draft 3 yrs later and say "what if"...that's pretty counterproductive... I think one thing that has to be kept in mind is that last year's and previous years acquisitions were for a different regime, staff, and needs. Philbin obviously has changed what Ireland is looking for in players and he has responded well. The jury is still out on his ability to put talent on the field without a doubt, but circumstances have had a hand in his success/failures as a personnel guy thus far here in Miami.... I think the miss on Henne (whether you assign that to Irish or not) is the one major reason his time here is looked at as more of a failure than a success. The Quitcells factor, Sparano factor and the change in regimes are not all his fault, however, he was a part of them... Every move a GM makes can be argued one way or the other, but the jury is still out on Ireland.
I thought this said alot from yesterday I would say you can't really argue this point but I do realize there are those few who don't want to see anything but negative after being so dead set on destroying anything positive toward Ireland. I see plenty looking like this team is dealing with growing pains but hard at work in the right direction and for once in a long time feel very good about what could be the future.
That's arguably the dumbest thing Cote has ever written. "Undeterred by nuances such as victories"? Really?
No he isn't. In this league you need a QB and a coach to win. Ireland didn't pick Sparano and Henne is the exact perfect QB for a Parcells team coming out of college. For QBs that have had significant playing time since Ireland has been a GM, we've had Penny, Henne, Moore, Tanny. That is not failure, especially when you figure Tanny is looking the future.
No, it's really not and that's kind of a pathetic response. It's undeniable that there are other factors besides talent in wins and losses. There can be fairly big discrepancies between the two. If you can't use that, in order to have an informed opinion you've got to do something else.
I think out of the last three drafts, 14 out of 22 players are still on the team, however, last year, the offensive trio of Thomas, Clay and gates is sub par.. Just trying to keep some sort if record as we go. I believe if Philbin wants him, he'll be here.. Also, this team is starting to talk about doing some things this year, obviously if this team is on the upstart as we head into the offseason it favors him tremendously.. The more we go, if we have a tough team at the end, I'm sure Philbin will be grateful of what he did inherit his first year.
Wasn't Reggie Bush more a Tony Sparano move than a Jeff Ireland move? I seem to remember that being the general consensus when Sparano was awarded more authority over personnel moves after Harbaugh-gate?
That falls into play when you aren't given a Super Bowl team to start with. Yes really victories follow it's not shake and bake.
Absolutely. If the Dolphins don;t lose another game for the next 10 years, I don't see how Ireland's perception can change. 10 consecutive Super Bowl Championships? pfffft. who cares?
BTW, as a board member of the Ireland hate club, I think that I can speak for all of us on the board when I say that Jeff Ireland can change our opinion of the job he has done here. He will have plenty of resources this upcoming offseason to either destroy or uplift the franchise. I guess it will be settled then.
No question. If Tannehill turns out to be legit and this team has the success that goes along with superior QB play, I'll give him his due and be happy to do so. Cote and Omar and anyone else who thinks people want this team to lose just to spite Ireland are flat-out idiots. They're confusing the Ireland hate for Suck for Luck when yes, there were some fans, myself included, who rooted for losses so that the Dolphins would be in position to draft a QB of the future. We're lucky we finished at #8 and Tannehill was still there. Can you imagine if he wasn't?
Always good in life to have opinions that can be swayed by facts. I'm on the "I don't give a F" bandwagon either way. I'm just glad we finally have a franchise QB and am going to enjoy watching him develop under the watchful eye of Philbin. I'm also looking forward to reading this post as it reaches 500 replies, all with the same arguments made in the other 20 Ireland posts, or posts that haven nothing to do with Ireland that turn in to Ireland posts.
